Andalón, Mabel and Gibson, John (2018): The ‘soda tax’ is unlikely to make Mexicans lighter or healthier: New evidence on biases in elasticities of demand for soda.
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Abstract
Mexico’s ‘soda tax’ has been predicted to reduce average weight of Mexicans by up to three pounds, based on extant estimates of the own-price elasticity of quantity demand for soda of between −1.0 and −1.3. These elasticity estimates from household survey data are exaggerated by not accounting for how consumers adjust quality demanded as price changes. Some estimates also are biased by correlated measurement error. To illustrate these biases we use budget survey data and soda price data for Mexico to estimate demand models that correct for both errors. The corrected own-price elasticity of quantity demand is between −0.1 and −0.4, implying that the soda tax might cut average weight by just half a pound, which is too little to improve population health.
Item Type: | MPRA Paper |
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Original Title: | The ‘soda tax’ is unlikely to make Mexicans lighter or healthier: New evidence on biases in elasticities of demand for soda |
Language: | English |
Keywords: | Demand, Household surveys, Quality, Price, Soda taxes, Mexico |
Subjects: | D - Microeconomics > D1 - Household Behavior and Family Economics > D12 - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I1 - Health > I10 - General |
Item ID: | 86370 |
Depositing User: | Prof John Gibson |
Date Deposited: | 26 Apr 2018 23:18 |
Last Modified: | 27 Sep 2019 03:35 |
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URI: | https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/id/eprint/86370 |